The Land Rover Discovery has evolved a distinct design heritage over 25 years and four generations of iconic, instantly recognisable vehicles. The Land Rover Discovery 4 inherited the clean lines of the previous generation, but recently subtly updated and given a more premium, more contemporary look. Still a very handsome and purposeful 4×4 luxury SUV with a go anywhere ability with comfortable room for 7 adults inside.
All-new interior
“The interior of Land Rover Discovery 4 continues to offer the driver and passengers superb visibility and versatility. But the re-designed facia and console architecture plus the use of premium materials, make the cabin a much more desirable place to be.” Gerry McGovern
The new interior for Land Rover Discovery 4 combines smooth, flowing surfaces with significant reduction in the complexity and number of controls. It provides a much softer, more premium all-round interior ambience, but still in keeping with the signature Discovery architectural theme.
The new console is now inclined towards the driver, improving visibility and access to the controls. It looks more akin to that in the Range Rover Sport than the outgoing Discovery 3. The Terrain Response control is now more prominently located at the front of the centre console, making way for the cup-holder in a more accessible position, mid-way along the console.
All models feature a new steering wheel, with revised switch layout for driver information, remote audio controls, cruise control and heated steering wheel.
A choice of natural-finish woods, along with stitched and wrapped facia, door casings and centre console, add to the crafted bespoke feel. There are also two new interior contrast colours, a mid-tone Nutmeg and a darker Arabica, complementing the existing Almond light interior colourway.
New seating is introduced for rows one and two, with a new, extended front seat cushion profile to improve support and seating comfort and, for the first time, the front seats feature height-adjustable head restraints in place of the traditional seat mounted grab handles. HSE vehicles specified with the Premium Leather pack also feature electrically adjustable side seat bolsters, allowing front occupants to tailor their seating’s support.
For convenience, the electric seat memory controls are relocated to the door casing.
New Interior Mood Lighting adds the finishing touch to the interior, with the introduction of white LED’s to cast subtle halos around the metal-plated interior door handles and pockets. The fascia and centre console area, complete with soft-stitching, and switchgear highlighted in “Noble” finishers, also benefit from the interior mood lighting when vehicle lights are on.
Technology made simple
The Land Rover Discovery 4 is packed with easy-to-operate and useful features, not technology for technology’s sake. The aim throughout is to simplify the operation, to help make journeys more relaxing and stress-free
Inside and out, the Land Rover Discovery 4 gains a raft of relevant new technology, to improve the driving experience.
The navigation system adopts an easy-to-use navigation structure which now also features ‘towards guidance’. This supplements the junction map and icon-based information with details of the actual road signage viewed by the driver along the route.
The new Portable Audio Interface allows connectivity to an array of personal audio storage devices, USB sticks and MP3 players, enabling the various devices’ functions to be accessed and controlled via the facia-mounted touch-screen system. One of the connectivity ports is a dedicated Apple i-PodTM point made exclusively by Land Rover, for continued functionality in extreme driving conditions, by helping to prevent the device coming loose from the socket.
A new 5-inch Thin Film Transistor (TFT) driver information screen is also introduced with Land Rover Discovery 4. Sitting within the re-designed instrument cluster, the message centre display ensures key information is communicated in a clean, simple and user-friendly manner.
And a purer, crisper radio sound is now available thanks to the introduction of Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) in most European and Asian markets. Along with the fine listening experience, comes additional features such as news headlines, song title and artist information.
Cutting edge user-friendly technologies
Outside the vehicle, convenient and relevant new systems enhance safety and security.
The new front headlights incorporate high beam assist technology. This can automatically switch on high beam headlights where external light levels are below the system’s threshold. Importantly, the system is also designed to detect preceding and approaching traffic, and in a split second will automatically switch back to low beam to avoid dazzling others.
The new remote entry key emits the signal required for passive entry into the vehicle, by the holder of the key simply touching the door handle, without using the’unlock’ button on the key fob. The new key also generates the signal required for the Push Button start of the vehicle. Sophisticated sensors recognise the presence of the key in the vehicle, confirm security credentials and then accept the ‘start’ command via the new fascia mounted start/stop push button.
No less than five digital cameras make up the new surround camera system, relaying to the touch-screen a near 360-degree view. The cameras function immediately the vehicle is started, and can be used at speeds up to 11mph, with options for selecting and zooming in to assist with close quarter parking and with towing.
The ‘tow assist’ function (selected from the touch screen menu) helps perform accurate towing manoeuvres. The wide field of views on the side cameras give a clear view of the reversing trailer: the images are electronically manipulated to provide an undistorted view, with guide lines overlaid on the rear camera image to illustrate both the vehicle and trailer’s trajectory.
Specific characteristics such as type of trailer, number of axles and width guides can be fed into the system to enhance the system outputs.
